Data driven API conversion

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for a dynamic api, includes receiving a first message in a first format from a client, the first format being specified for the client, the first message including information sufficient to cause a target service to execute an operation. The method includes identifying, using the API message, the target service. The method includes determining based of the target, a second format. The method includes generating a second message in the second format prescribed by the target service using the first message, the second message including information sufficient to cause the target service to execute the operation. The method also includes sending the second message to the target service over the network connector.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of and claims priority toU.S. application Ser. No. 15/654,319, filed on Jul. 19, 2017. The entiredisclosure of this application is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

An Application Programming Interface (API) defines the way for anapplication to interact with certain system/application/library/etc. ARESTful API uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests to accessdata and services. These APIs are developed without a common agreementof what to call them, how to consume them or even how you secure them.Developed in isolation, such APIs can be consumed differently, securedin a customized manner, etc.

SUMMARY

This specification describes technologies relating to RESTful APIs.

In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described inthis specification can be embodied in methods that include the act ofreceiving a first message in a first format from a client, the firstformat being specified for the client, the first message includinginformation sufficient to cause a target service to execute anoperation. The methods include the act of identifying, using the APImessage, the target service. The methods include the act of determiningbased of the target, a second format. The methods include the act ofgenerating a second message in the second format prescribed by thetarget service using the first message, the second message includinginformation sufficient to cause the target service to execute theoperation. The method includes the act of sending the second message tothe target service over the network connector.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be implemented so as to realize one or more of thefollowing advantages. Companies may access RESTful APIs using theirstandards instead of requiring an understanding of multiple differentimplementations.

Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding computer systems,apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one or more computerstorage devices, each configured to perform the actions of the methods.A system of one or more computers can be configured to performparticular actions by virtue of having software, firmware, hardware, ora combination of them installed on the system that in operation causesor cause the system to perform the actions. One or more computerprograms can be configured to perform particular actions by virtue ofincluding instructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus,cause the apparatus to perform the actions.

The foregoing and other embodiments can each optionally include one ormore of the following features. The methods may include the acts ofreceiving results from the target service in a first return format, andgenerating results in a second return format, the second return formatselected based on the sender of the message. The methods may include theacts of identifying an error code and an error message within theresults, generating an error in a format specified by the sender, andsending the error message to the sender. The methods may include theacts of identifying at least one error returned from the target service,and providing the error to the sender in a second error format, thesecond error format determined based on the sender. The methods mayinclude the act of authenticating the sending using a firstauthentication method different from a second authentication method usedin the second message. The system may receive requests from the senderover a network. The system may be operated by the sender. The targetservice may be a RESTful service.

The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter describedin this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an organization accessing RESTful Services.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example environment where an organization uses astandard application programming interface (SNAPI) component.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of a SNAPI component.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a user interface 400 for specifying anAPI for a RESTful service.

FIG. 5 is an example of a user interface 500 where an organization canspecify its standard API format.

FIG. 6 is a user interface that registers an organization to use aparticular web API.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example process 700 for an API system.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, a RESTful service and API refer to an architecture in whicha client makes request of a service. The state of a particular requestsis not maintained by the service while the service is not processing therequest. Instead, the state is transferred from the RESTful service to aclient. Transferring state from the service to the client reduces thecomplexity of the service, allowing the service to have improvedscalability. Scalability is improved because not having to store statebetween requests allows the service to quickly free resources. At thesame time, responding to requests is simplified because the serverdoesn't have to manage resource usage across requests. As the RESTfulservice does not maintain state between requests, each request includesinformation sufficient to process the request.

FIG. 1 illustrates an organization 102 accessing RESTful Services (104a-104 d). Each RESTful service (104 a-d) can establish its own formatfor sending and receiving messages. RESTful APIs allow access toapplications and services using the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).In general, a client sends an HTTP request to a web server that enablesaccess to the RESTful API. The web server API can dictate the format andinformation necessary to interact with the API. For example, RESTfulAPIs can be configured to use at least four different security options,at least two different results formats, at least three different queryparameter formats, at least three different error response options, andat least three different pagination options. Accordingly, there are atleast 216 variations on the ways that a RESTful API can be configured.As such, accessing a different API requires considerable research anddeveloper time within the organization 102 to enable an application toaccess the various APIs.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example environment where an organization 202 usesa standard application programming interface (SNAPI) component 204 toenable organizations to access a variety of different RESTful servicesusing a consistent API format. The organization 202 contacts the SNAPIcomponent 204 using a predetermined API. For example, the parameters forthe API is selected by the organization (for example, the organizationmay wish to use Basic authentication with parameters in the query stringand receive the results as Javascript Object Notation (JSON) objects.)The SNAPI component 204 can accept an HTTP request, Uniform ResourceIdentifier (URI), etc. provided by the organization, translate the HTTPrequest, URI, etc. into a form accepted by an interface of a service(e.g. a service selected from the RESTful services 104 a-d), and send atranslated request to the selected service 104 a.

When the service 104 a provides results to the request, the SNAPI 204can translate the results into a format as requested by the organization202. For example, if the service 104 a provides results in ExtensibleMarkup Lanugage (XML) format, the SNAPI component 204 can translate theXML results to JSON formatted results.

In this manner, the SNAPI component 204 enables the organization 202 tostandardize their RESTful API calls while interfacing with a variety ofdifferent RESTful services that each use their own (and not necessarilyconsistent) versions of a RESTful API.

The SNAPI component 204 can be, for example, a component that isimplemented by the organization or may be offered as a web service.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of a SNAPI component 304.In this example, an organization application 302 accesses data providedby a RESTful service 312 using a SNAPI component 204. The organizationalapplication 302 can send a request to the SNAPI component 304. The sentrequest can be formatted using the organization's standard API format.The SNAPI component 304 obtains a registered API specification 306 thatdefines a structure of the request which is acceptable to the RESTfulservice 312.

The specification that describes the acceptable structure can be storedin a register data store 308. The register data store 308 may be, forexample, a database, a file in a file system, etc.

The SNAPI component 304 provides the registered API specification andthe request from the organization app 302 to a SNAPI translator 310. Insome implementations, the SNAPI translator 310 may be integrated intothe SNAPI component 304. The SNAPI translator 310 translates the requestfrom the organization app 302 into a request having a format acceptableby the RESTful service 312.

To interface with a service an operations referred to as a call may beemployed. RESTful API calls to RESTful services can be complex andvaried in their form and structure. The basic component of a RESTful APIcall is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) string. The generalstructure of an HTTP URI string is as follows:

scheme:[//[user:password@]host[:port]][/]path[?query]

Stepping through this example, from left to right. The scheme consistsof a sequence of characters beginning with a letter and followed by anycombination of letters, digits, plus (+), period (.), or hyphen (−).Examples of popular schemes include http, https, ftp, mailto, file, anddata.

Following the scheme, the URI can also include an optionalauthentication section of a user name and password, separated by acolon, followed by an at symbol (@). In general, when using HTTP Basicauthentication, the client strips the credentials from the URI and passthem as an HTTP header (e.g. Authorization: Basicbase64(user:password)).

Next in the sequence, a “host” is generally considered the address ofthe service. The “host” consists of a registered name (including but notlimited to a hostname), or an IP address, etc. An optional port numbercan be separated from the hostname by a colon. A port refers to anendpoint of a communication over the network. By default, webserverslisten on port 80, however other ports can be used. When theorganization makes a request to the SNAPI component, the host may referto the SNAPI component directly, but the request may contain informationsufficient to identify the target RESTful service. For example, the host“geolocation.snapi.example.com” may correspond to the target host“www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate”. A mapping between thehost and the target host may be stored in a persistent data store or mayfollow a predetermined naming convention.

Continuing through the presented example, a path usually includes dataorganized in hierarchical form, which appears as a sequence of segmentsseparated by slashes.

An optional query string can be provided in the URI. The query string isseparated from the preceding parts of the URI by a question mark “?”.The query string can contain non-hierarchical data. Typically, thesyntax of a query string is not well defined, but is often a sequence ofattribute-value pairs separated by a delimiter. The query string canseparate attribute-value pairs using a delimiter, such as a ‘&’ or “;”.

Different APIs can use these parts of the URI string in different ways.For example, some API expect the input parameters in the query string(for example, “http://www.rest.services.com/get?item=b&output=json”),others expect the parameters in the path (for example,“http://www.rest.services.com/json/item/b,”), while others use acombination of both the path and query string (for example,“http://www.rest.services.com/json?item=b”).

The SNAPI translator 310 can translate from one parameterformat/structure to another. The API specification (for example, fromRegister Data Store 3058) can identify the parameters and values thatare expected by the RESTful service. The SNAPI translator 310 can readall of the parameters provided by the organizations' request andreformat them into the format required by the RESTful service ofinterest. For example, a request to“http://www.rest.services.com/json/item/b” can be parsed such thatitem=‘b’, etc.

RESTful APIs can use several different authentication methods, includingAPI keys, Basic authentication, OAuth, etc. An API key is a code passedin by computer programs calling an API (application programminginterface) to identify the calling program, its developer, or its userto the Web site. API keys are used to track and control how the API isbeing used (for example to prevent malicious use or abuse of the API (asdefined perhaps by terms of service)). The API key often acts as both aunique identifier and a secret token for authentication, and willgenerally have a set of access rights on the API associated with it. APIkeys can be based on the unique identification system to ensure theywill be unique to each user. The API key can be provided as a parameterin the URI (for example,“http://www.rest.services.com/json?apikey=1929E23AD32BC0AF”, where“929E23AD32BC0AF” is the API key). The API key can also be provided aspart of an HTTP header (for example, “X-API-Key: 29E23AD32BC0AF”).

Basic authentication can be performed by using a standard HTTP headerwith a user name and password. The user name and password are generalencoded (for example using base64.) Base64 is a binary-to-text encodingscheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format bytranslating it into a radix-64 representation.

For still another method, OAuth is an open standard for authentication,commonly used as a way for Internet users to access (log in) third partywebsites using their Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, One Network,etc. accounts without exposing their password. Generally, OAuth providesclients a “secure delegated access” to server resources on behalf of aresource owner. It specifies a process for resource owners to authorizethird-party access to their server resources without sharing theircredentials. Designed specifically to work with HTTP, OAuth allowsaccess tokens to be issued to third-party clients by an authenticationserver, with the approval of the resource owner. The third party thenuses the access token to access the protected resources hosted by theresource server.

In order to translate between these different authentication schemes,the SNAPI component 304 is capable of authenticating an organization,user, etc. using any of the above authentication schemes. Therefore,when the organization sends the request to the SNAPI component, theorganization authenticates itself with the SNAPI component 304 usingtheir preferred authentication method.

In some implementations, the SNAPI component 304 may identify the sourceof the message (for example, using an Internet protocol address or aparameter or values in the request). The SNAPI component 304 may look upthe preferred authentication type based on the source and validate themessage accordingly.

In some implementations, the SNAPI component 304 may validate therequest by checking each possible authentication method. If the requestcan be successfully authenticated using any valid authentication methodthen the message is authenticated.

The API specification 306 can store the authentication scheme requiredby the RESTful service. The SNAPI component 304 can obtain storedcredentials for the organization from a credentials data store 314. Forexample, the credentials data store 314 may store authenticationcredentials for the organization for each RESTful service that theorganization accesses using the SNAPI component 304. In someimplementations, the organization registers its credentials with theSNAPI component 304 when the organization registers an interest in aparticular API. In some implementations, the SNAPI component 304 mayobtain an initial set of credentials for the organization when theorganization accesses an API for the first time.

Some requests to a RESTful service can produce a large number ofresults. Instead of providing hundreds of results in a single responsedocument, some services can elect to provide results incrementally.Incremental results can be provided by either providing a page pointer,an index value, a limit, etc.

A page pointer can be used when the RESTful API provides pages ofpredetermined size. For example, for a page size of 25 results, theparameter “?page=1” may return results numbered 1-25, while “?page=2”may return results numbered 26-50.

An index may identify the first result in the result set to return. Forexample, “?index=26” may request that the results begin with the resultnumbered 26. In some implementations, the number of results returned maybe predetermined (e.g. 10, 20, 30, etc.) by the RESTful service. Inother implementations, the numbered results returned may be determinedby a limiting parameter. For example, a query string that includes“?index=35&limit=10” may return a batch of ten results starting with the35^(th) result (i.e., results 35-44).

The SNAPI translator 310 may translate one form of pagination intoanother. For example, if an organization uses a page number parameterand the RESTful service uses an index and a limit, the SNAPI translatormay determine the index as the sum of the page number and page size, andthe limit as the page size. Alternatively, if an organization uses indexand limit parameters and the RESTful service uses pages, the SNAPItranslator 310 may send one or more different request? messages andprocess the results to return the requested set of data.

For example, if the organization requests items 10-19 (index 10, limit10) and the RESTful service provides pages of 25, the SNAPI translator310 may request page 1 and then only provide items 10-19 as a result.However, if the organization instead requests items 20-29 (index20-limit 10), the SNAPI translator may request page 1 and page 2(possibly using multiple requests), receiving records 1-50. The SNAPItranslator 310 may then return only the requested records.

The SNAPI translator 310 (or the SNAPI component 304) sends thetranslated request to the RESTful service 312.

Typically, the RESTful service 312 sends back a response in a formatdictated by the RESTful service 312. The SNAPI translator 310 translatesthe raw response into the organization standard response format. The rawresponse can be, for example, the data requested by the request or canbe an error message.

In general, RESTful APIs return results in one of two different formats:XML or JSON. XML is a markup language that defines a set of rules forencoding documents in a format that is both human-readable andmachine-readable. JSON is an open-standard format that useshuman-readable text to transmit data objects consisting ofattribute-value pairs.

The SNAPI translator 310 may convert XML results to JSON results andJSON results to XML results, depending on the format requested by theorganization.

Error handling can require additional customization. There are multipledifferent ways that a RESTful service may handle error conditions. Forexample, one service may use HTTP status codes (for example, status 401for an authentication required message).

Another service may embed an error message within a return result thatis otherwise valid (e.g. an HTTP status code 200). Some services mayinclude additional information about the error, while others may not.

The SNAPI translator 310 can use different techniques to configure theerror handling. For example, part of the configuration of the webservice may indicate a location in a result set where an error code madebe present, or may indicate that the RESTful API uses HTTP status codesfor errors. In some implementations, the configuration may specify alocation of the error code and a location of an error message.

In some implementations, the SNAPI translator 310 can use othertechniques to identify and parse error messages, including, but notlimited to, regular expressions, XML parsers, and JSON parsers.

For example, if it's an authentication error (e.g. 401 Unauthorized)indicating that the user needs to authenticate. The SNAPI translator mayattempt to authenticate and reissue the request. For example, if theREST API uses OAuth, and the OAuth access token has expired. The SNAPItranslator can automatically refresh the access token. Having refreshedthe access token. The SNAPI translator can reissue the original request.Because refreshing the access token is a back-channel communicationbetween The SNAPI translator and the REST API's authorization server,the client is unaffected: the client never sees the error.

If it's an authorization error (e.g. 403 Forbidden) indicating that theuser does not have access to the given resource. The SNAPI translatorcan return a 403 Forbidden HTTP status code to the client. In thissituation, the error is more or less passed through the system back tothe client.

If the error occurs while trying to modify the resource (e.g. save acustomer), and it indicates that there is something wrong with therequest (e.g. 400 Bad Request), it can be treated as a validation error.The SNAPI translator can return the item (customer) to the client. Notethat the item may be different than what the client sent. For instance,the SNAPI translator may have set one or more default values. Inaddition to the item. The SNAPI translator can include the error messagefrom the server. It can appear as a validation result. In this way,errors returned from the REST service are treated the same as validationerrors that might have been found before The SNAPI translator submittedthe request to the REST API.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a user interface 400 for specifying anAPI for a RESTful service. For example, an administrator may configure aSNAPI component using the user interface 400. The user interface 400 maybe a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) page presented by a web server.

The user interface 400 allows the user to specify a host/path name 402for the RESTful service. The host name and path name define the basisfor the RESTful API call, as described above.

The user interface 400 allows the user to specify the authenticationtype 404 required by the RESTful service. In this example, theauthentication type 404 is selected from a drop down menu of potentialauthentication types (for example, Basic authentication, API key, OAuth,none).

The user interface 400 also allows the user to specify the name of theparameters 406 that are used in the authentication (in this example, theparameter “key”) and referred to as “Auth Parameters”. For someauthentication types there may not be variable parameter names (forexample, for Basic authentication the names of the header fields arepredetermined). If there are no parameters available, the area used tospecify the auth parameters 406 may be greyed out, invisible, collapsed,or otherwise inaccessible.

The user interface 400 can also allow the user to specify the returnformat 408 of the RESTful service. As described above, the return formatmay be either JSON or XML. In this example, the user can select from adrop down list (for example, JSON, XML, query based, path based). Inthis example, the return type is determined based on the path or theURL. The user interface 400 includes a return format path where the usercan specify the path to request a JSON return type 410 and one for anXML 412 return type. Alternatively, if the user selects the query basedoption, the user interface 400 may include a field where a user mayspecify a parameter and one or more values that correspond to the returntypes.

The user interface 400 includes a field 414 where the user can specifyhow results are paginated. In this example, the user may select from adrop down list that includes the valid options (for example, page,index, none). The user can also specify the name of the paginationparameter 416. If the user were to select the “index” option, thepagination parameters may include an index and a limit value that theuser can select.

The user interface 400 also includes a parameter area 422. Parametersdefined in the user interface 400 can appear in this window. In thisexample, the key parameter, defined in the authentication parameters406, and the page parameter, defined in the pagination parameters 414,appear in this area. The user can also add additional parameters, forexample, by selecting the add parameter button 424. In this example, theuser has added an id parameter, indicating that the RESTful serviceaccepts (or expects) an id parameter. In some implementations, the usercan also specify whether each parameter is required or optional. Theuser can also delete a parameter, for example, by selecting the deleteparameter button 426. In some implementations, the user may be preventedfrom deleting parameters created based on the fields above (such as apassword parameter).

The user may also sort the parameters, for example, by dragging anddropping a field. This enables the user to specify an ordering ofparameters for services where the ordering is important.

The user interface 400 also includes a sample call 420. The sample callis a visual representation of what a call to the RESTful service wouldlook like. It allows the user to check their data against the API.

FIG. 5 is an example of a user interface 500 where an organization canspecify its standard API format. A company field 502 identifies the nameof the company. The company 502 field may be prefilled based otherinformation provided by the user. For example, a user's logininformation may be associated with a particular company. In someimplementations, the company field 502 may be specified by a user aspart of a registration process.

An authentication type field 504 allows the user to select between apredetermined number of options (for example, using a drop down list).In some implementations, the user can select from a list including forexample, Basic authentication, API key authentication, OAuth, or none.In some implementations, the system may require that the organization beassociated with some authentication method (for example, none may not bea valid option.)

The authentication parameters field 506 allows the user to specifyparameters based on the type of authentication selected in theauthentication type field. In this example, the user has selected Basicauthentication. As Basic authentication uses predefined entries in anHTTP header, the authentication parameters field 506 is disabled. If theuser had, instead, for example, selected the API key authentication, theuser would be able to specify the name of the parameter to include theAPI key.

The user interface 500 can also allow the user to specify the returnformat 510 of the RESTful service. As described above, the return formatmay be either JSON or XML. In this example, the user can select from adrop down list (for example, JSON, XML, query based, path based). Inthis example, the user has selected to receive JSON responses.Accordingly, the return format parameter 510 field is disabled.

The user interface 500 includes a pagination field 512 where the usercan specify how results are paginated. In this example, the user mayselect from a drop down list that includes the valid options (forexample, page, index, none). Here, the user has selected “index.” Theuser can also specify the name of the pagination parameters 416. Thepagination parameters may include the names of variables that willinclude the index 514 and the limit 514 values.

The user interface 500 also includes a parameter type field 518 thatenables the user to define whether parameters are included in the querystring, a path, a http header, or a combination thereof. In thisexample, the user has selected query string parameters.

The user interface 500 also includes a parameter area 522 for presentingparameters defined in the user interface 500. In this example, the indexand limit parameters appear (defined in the pagination parameters area,described above). The user may also sort the parameters, for example, bydragging and dropping a field. This enables the user to specify anordering of parameters for services where the ordering is of interest.

The user interface 500 also includes a sample call 520. The sample callis a visual representation of what a call to the SNAPI component willlook like. It allows the user to check their data against the API.

FIG. 6 is a user interface 600 that registers an organization to use aparticular web API. In order to use an API, an organization may berequired to provide certain information, such as security information.The user interface 600 collects required information from a user fromthe organization. In this example, the user interface 600 displays thename of the organization 602 in the user interface 600.

The user interface 600 includes a service field 604 where the user canselect the service to configure. The service may be selected using adrop down list or using a search function. In some implementations, thesearch function can be integrated into the user interface 600. Forexample, as the user begins to type in the service field 604 the dropdown list is populated with services that meet search criteria definedby the data in the service field 604.

The SNAPI component or user interface 600 may access data that describesthe selected service. For example, the SNAPI component or user interface600 may determine that use of the service requires authentication data.The user interface 600 requests the required data from the user. In thisexample, the user interface 600 displays an API key field 608. The usercan supply the API key that the company uses to access the selectedservice. As different authentication methods require differentinformation, the user interface may display additional data when theobject is selected. For example, if the user selects a service that usesBasic authentication, the user may be asked to provide a username andpassword/secret.

The user can save the data entered into the fields by selecting the savebutton 610.

The data from the user interface 600 may be stored in a persistent datastore, for later access.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an example process 700 for an API system.

The process receives 702 a first message in a first format from aclient, the first format being specified for the client, the firstmessage including information sufficient to cause a target service toexecute an operation.

The process 700 identifies 704, using the API message, the targetservice

The process 700 determines 706 based of the target, a second format.

The process 700 generates 708 a second message in the second formatprescribed by the target service using the first message, the secondmessage including information sufficient to cause the target service toexecute the operation.

The process 700 sends 710 the second message to the target service overthe network connector.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in thisspecification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or incomputer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matterdescribed in this specification can be implemented as one or morecomputer programs (i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on computer storage mediums for execution by, orto control the operation of, data processing apparatus). A computerstorage medium can be, or be included in, a computer-readable storagedevice, a computer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial accessmemory array or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, orother storage devices). The computer storage medium can benon-transitory.

The operations described in this specification can be implemented asoperations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored onone or more computer-readable storage devices or received from othersources.

The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all kinds of apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example,a programmable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multipleones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The apparatus can includespecial purpose logic circuitry (e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gatearray) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)). Theapparatus can also include, in addition to hardware, code that createsan execution environment for the computer program in question (e.g.,code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, a cross-platform runtimeenvironment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more ofthem). The apparatus and execution environment can realize variousdifferent computing model infrastructures, such as web services,distributed computing and grid computing infrastructures.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, declarative orprocedural or object-oriented or functional languages, and it can bedeployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module,component, subroutine, service, object, or other unit suitable for usein a computing environment. A computer program may, but need not,correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in aportion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or morescripts stored in a markup language document), in a single filededicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files(e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub-programs, or portionsof code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on onecomputer or on multiple computers that are located at one site ordistributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry (e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application-specific integrated circuit)).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital, analog or quantumcomputer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data froma read-only memory or a random access memory or both. The essentialelements of a computer are a processor for performing actions inaccordance with instructions and one or more memory devices for storinginstructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include, or beoperatively coupled to receive, data from or transfer data to, or both,one or more mass storage devices for storing data (e.g., electronic,magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks), however, a computerneed not have such devices. Moreover, a computer can be embedded inanother device (e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console, a GPS receiver,or a portable storage device (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flashdrive)), to name just a few. Devices suitable for storing computerprogram instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices (e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices), magneticdisks (e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks), magneto-opticaldisks, and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can besupplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback) and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is usedby the user (for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on auser's user device in response to requests received from the webbrowser).

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back-end component(e.g., as a data server), a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or a front-end component (e.g., a user computer having agraphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user caninteract with an implementation of the subject matter described in thisspecification), or any combination of one or more such back-end,middleware, or front-end components. The components of the system can beinterconnected by any form or medium of digital or optical datacommunication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communicationnetworks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a wide area network(“WAN”), an inter-network (e.g., the Internet), and peer-to-peernetworks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks).

The computing system can include users and servers. A user and serverare generally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of user and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a user-server relationship to each other. In some embodiments, aserver transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a user device (e.g., forpurposes of displaying data to and receiving user input from a userinteracting with the user device). Data generated at the user device(e.g., a result of the user interaction) can be received from the userdevice at the server.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions.Certain features that are described in this specification in the contextof separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in asingle embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described inthe context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multipleembodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can, in some cases, be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described.Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In somecases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a differentorder and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processesdepicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallelprocessing may be advantageous.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: one or more storage devicesstoring instructions that are operable, when executed by one or morecomputers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operationscomprising: receiving, from a client device, data specifying a firstformat for one or more messages receivable from the client device and aresponse format for one or more response messages for sending to theclient device; receiving a first message in the first format from theclient device, the first message including information sufficient tocause a target service to execute an operation; identifying, from thefirst message, the target service by parsing the first message accordingto the data specifying the first format; determining based on the targetservice that is identified, a second format; generating a second messagein the second format using the first message, the second messageincluding information sufficient to cause the target service to executethe operation; sending the second message to the target service over anetwork; and sending, to the client device, a response message in theresponse format.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: receivingresults from the target service in a first return format; and modifyingthe results to a second return format, the second return format selectedbased on the data specifying the response format from the client device.3. The system of claim 1, further comprising: identifying an error codeand an error message received from the target service; generating anerror in the response format; and sending the error message to theclient device.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising: identifyingat least one error returned from the target service; and providing theerror to the client device in a second error format, the second errorformat determined based on the response format.
 5. The system of claim1, further comprising: authenticating the sending using a firstauthentication method different from a second authentication method usedin the second message.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system isoperated by the client device.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thetarget service is a RESTful service.
 8. The system of claim 1, theoperations further comprising: determining, based on the client device,a type of authentication for validating the first message; andvalidating the first message in accordance with the type ofauthentication.
 9. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving,from a client device, data specifying a first format for one or moremessages receivable from the client device and a response format for oneor more response messages for sending to the client device; receiving afirst message in the first format from the client device, the firstmessage including information sufficient to cause a target service toexecute an operation; identifying, from the first message, the targetservice by parsing the first message according to the data specifyingthe first format; determining based on the target service that isidentified, a second format; generating a second message in the secondformat using the first message, the second message including informationsufficient to cause the target service to execute the operation; sendingthe second message to the target service over a network; and sending, tothe client device, a response message in the response format.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising: receivingresults from the target service in a first return format; and modifyingthe results to a second return format, the second return format selectedbased on the data specifying the response format from the client device.11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:identifying an error code and an error message received from the targetservice; generating an error in the response format; and sending theerror message to the client device.
 12. The computer-implemented methodof claim 9, further comprising: identifying at least one error returnedfrom the target service; and providing the error to the client device ina second error format, the second error format determined based on theresponse format.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, furthercomprising: authenticating the sending using a first authenticationmethod different from a second authentication method used in the secondmessage.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein thetarget service is a RESTful service.
 15. A non-transitory computerstorage medium encoded with computer program instructions that whenexecuted by one or more computers cause the one or more computers toperform operations comprising: receiving, from a client device, dataspecifying a first format for one or more messages receivable from theclient device and a response format for one or more response messagesfor sending to the client device; receiving a first message in the firstformat from the client device, the first message including informationsufficient to cause a target service to execute an operation;identifying, from the first message, the target service by parsing thefirst message according to the data specifying the first format;determining based on the target service that is identified, a secondformat; generating a second message in the second format using the firstmessage, the second message including information sufficient to causethe target service to execute the operation; sending the second messageto the target service over a network; and sending, to the client device,a response message in the response format.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer storage medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising:receiving results from the target service in a first return format; andmodifying the results to a second return format, the second returnformat selected based on the data specifying the response format fromthe client device.
 17. The non-transitory computer storage medium ofclaim 15, the operations further comprising: identifying an error codeand an error message received from the target service; generating anerror in the response format; and sending the error message to theclient device.
 18. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim15, the operations further comprising: identifying at least one errorreturned from the target service; and providing the error to the clientdevice in a second error format, the second error format determinedbased on the response format.
 19. The non-transitory computer storagemedium of claim 15, the operations further comprising: authenticatingthe sending using a first authentication method different from a secondauthentication method used in the second message.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the target service is aRESTful service.